


December 26th

by Lacy_Star



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Rich's dad is an asshole ya'll- remember to stay safe, The Christmas fic that was four days late :/, also- its degrees in Fahrenheit for all ya Celsius users, spicy bis - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-29
Packaged: 2019-09-30 03:12:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17215919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacy_Star/pseuds/Lacy_Star
Summary: But then things started to register. Little things. Like how Rich was wearing a tank top, which wasn’t unusual, except for the fact that it was 19 degrees out and supposed to snow soon. And how Rich was holding himself, arms tight across his chest, which was a stark contrast from his usual confident swagger he walked with. Though maybe it was because the cold, Jeremy reasoned.Oh. And the black eye. He also had a black eye.So Jeremy changed the conversation plan a little.“Hey,” he said, “what are you doing out?”Rich immediately looked away.“Uh, you know. Coming back from the store."Yes. Of course. The nearest store that was a forty minute walk away. A forty minute walk in 19 degree weather. Completely believable.---In which Rich has had a shitty Christmas and Jeremy makes it better.





	December 26th

**Author's Note:**

> me, Christmas Eve 2k18: Fuck I should make a Christmas fic. but I have no idea what to do. oh well.
> 
> me, a day after Christmas 2k18, laying in bed: ... FUCK ME!
> 
> So here's the Christmas fic that came late. I adjusted the story as such. I was gonna have it take place on Christmas anyways and say fuck it but... eh. I accept my mistake.
> 
> enjoy!

It was the day after Christmas, and Jeremy was taking in all the depression.

There was something a little mystifying to him with the day after Christmas. There was December, a month of hype leading up to a single day, and once the day happened there was a gigantic burnout the day after. Like the world suddenly became a husk, and all its inhabitants had to re-figure out how to live without all the carols and jolliness in their life.

Hanukkah was eight days long. In that sense Jeremy thought it was easier to ease into and ease out of. It wasn’t so abrupt, there and gone in a 24 hour span.

Michael called December 26th “Christmas Carnage Day,” Because it was just that. Parents begrudgingly getting up for work after the break. Kids already getting bored of their toys. And with all that, the neighborhoods were dead. Some houses still had their Christmas lights on, not bothered to turn them off. Most had their lights off, yet still out, and only a couple people were willing to bear the chill and work on getting their lights taken down and trees thrown out.

It was almost macabre to Jeremy, seeing the unlit ornaments and decorations. Like a corpse that nobody had collected yet.

Anyways.

The reason Jeremy was so deep in thought about this was because he was strolling through such a neighborhood on December 26th. It was getting into the later hours of the afternoon, so the streets were bathed in a faint cloud-smudged blue glow as the sun set. He was walking home after hours of hanging with Michael, as his moms had gotten him some new video games that they’d played pretty much all day. He didn’t have the car because his dad had taken it to work, so he was out in the cold all by himself staring at the dead houses and trying not to slip on the icy sidewalk.

The solitude was a little weird, but not entirely unwelcome. Jeremy had really started to appreciate the quiet ever since “the incident.” It was nice to not have to share his thoughts with anything.

Truth be told, Jeremy was looking forward to the walk home.

Of course, the quiet wouldn’t last.

As he passed another picket fence, he saw another figure ahead of him, walking (or, stumbling, more or less) in his direction. He was going to look away and avoid eye contact as he normally did when passing someone on the street, but as the person neared he stopped in his tracks.

“Rich?” Jeremy asked in confused recognition.

The person, who until that moment had his head ducked, snapped up to look at him with wide eyes. After a moment, Rich relaxed as he realized who was addressing him.

“Oh, hey Jeremy.”

Jeremy smiled down at the boy, but intimidation still welled up in a deeper part of him. Rich was cool. Really cool. Even after his squip was gone, he still managed to be cool- just now in a dorkier way. And Jeremy was _not_ cool.

There was also the whole thing with Rich being his tormentor of three years and almost-hookup for Jeremy’s almost-life-destroyer, but Jeremy was working on forgiving all that. Rich was nicer now, and he was pretty much the only person Jeremy could talk to about squips and have him understand. He liked Rich. He liked Rich a lot.

Nevertheless, Jeremy was still intimidated. He was gonna go with a “how’s your break going, mine’s good too, see you later,” conversation and then be done.

But then things started to register. Little things. Like how Rich was wearing a tank top, which wasn’t unusual, except for the fact that it was 19 degrees out and supposed to snow soon. And how Rich was holding himself, arms tight across his chest, which was a stark contrast from his usual confident swagger he walked with. Though maybe it was because the cold, Jeremy reasoned.

Oh. And the black eye. He also had a black eye.

So Jeremy changed the conversation plan a little.

“Hey,” he said, “what are you doing out?”

Rich immediately looked away.

“Uh, you know. Coming back from the store.”

Yes. Of course. The nearest store that was a forty minute walk away. A forty minute walk in 19 degree weather.

Jeremy smiled, a little sadly, debating over whether or not to push it. He pushed it. “Did you leave your jacket there?”

Rich cleared his throat. His shoulders hunched up like a cat raising its hackles. “It’s not that cold. I left it at home.”

Looking down at the boy, Jeremy felt a little guilty. A part of him wanted to push further and get the truth out of Rich, but he knew he was already making him uncomfortable.

What would Michael do? Michael always knew how to make him better with a video game or stupid joke. But Jeremy wasn’t Michael and Rich wasn’t Jeremy.

Rich was cringing even more in the silence, probably aware of his own transparency. A particularly cold wind blew through and Rich crossed his arms tighter.

Right. 5’5 boy was freezing. Wake up, Jeremy.

“Uh, if you want you can come to my house. It’s only like a two minute walk from here. My dad should be home soon, so I can take the car and drive you home.”

At, “drive you home,” Rich’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “Um, I’m good. I can walk. You don’t have to.” Then he shivered again.

Unfortunately for Rich, Jeremy was to engrossed in whatever was up with him to let him go. Rich seemed to realize this at Jeremy’s questioning look for the passed up offer. He bit at his lips, which were, frankly, kinda blue. In contrast to his face, which was bright red from the cold.

“How long have you been out here?” Jeremy asked after the observation.

Rich didn’t even answer at first. Just busied himself by rubbing his bare arms with his hands that were shaking like crazy, and he was also coughing and wheezing in the dry air- and okay, maybe this was worse than Jeremy thought.

“Not long,” Rich lied, “But I should be getting going.” He pointed in no particular direction.  
  
“Where?”

Ladies and gents, we got ‘em.

Rich opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. He looked up at Jeremy for a long moment, trying to come up with an excuse.

Another wind blew through. Rich exhaled shakily, a cloud of mist dissipating in the air from his breath.

“Uh, you know. I’m going to Jake’s house,” He said at last, not even trying anymore. “I promised I’d meet up with him at five. I really gotta go, so…” He forced a smile, “I’ll see you later?”

He tried to step around Jeremy, but Jeremy moved in his way, holding an arm out to block him. Rich blinked up at him in surprise. Jeremy was just as shocked. He didn’t think he was capable of such a power move.

Right. Focus. Jeremy swallowed. “Please come to my house? Just for a bit?”

“Whatever you’re thinking, Jeremy, I’m fine,” Rich insisted before breaking off into a coughing fit, obviously not fine.

“It’s cold.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”

Jeremy rolled his eyes. Rich was stubborn, that was for sure. “If you won’t come over then at least tell me where you’re going.” Because hell, he at least wanted to know if Rich was going to end up okay or not.

“I already told you,” Rich muttered, staring at the floor.

“Come on, Rich.”

Rich scowled a little in annoyance, and Jeremy shared the sentiment. He wished that Rich would suck it up and stop testing his patience.

After a moment of grinding his teeth and flicking his eyes to and away from Jeremy, Rich sighed out an exasperated, “I don’t _know_.” His voice was small and defeated. Jeremy wasn’t used to it and his heart twinged a little.

After a bit of silence and figuring out how to respond, Jeremy repeated, “Please? Just for fifteen minutes, even?”

Rich’s eyes went distant in thought for a moment. But after a moment he shook himself. He reluctantly groaned out, “Fine.”

Jeremy relaxed in relief, a little proud of his win. He breathed out a, “Cool, thanks.”

Rich grumbled noncommittally. Jeremy could see this was going to be difficult.

“Oh!” An idea popped into Jeremy’s head, because at this rate Rich was gonna catch influenza and his arms would fall off from frostbite. Jeremy unzipped his coat and shucked it, cold air hitting his body. He was grateful he was wearing a sweater.

He thrust the the jacket towards Rich. “Here.”

Rich eyed it with forced disdain. “You said it’s a two minute walk. I’m gonna be okay, dude.”

Jeremy looked away. He wasn’t gonna take no for an answer, but most of his confidence was gone and he wasn’t going to argue about it. He made an awkward noise, moving behind Rich and draping the jacket over his shoulders. His knuckles brushed Rich’s arms, which were as frigid as blocks of ice to the touch. His worry grew a little bit.

Rich tensed up at the gesture. He shifted on his feet from embarrassment, but after a moment a coy smirk twitched on his face.

“Damn, tallass. Giving me your jacket? The neighbors might think…”

Jeremy felt his face heat up despite the chill, “Shut up and follow me.”

But before he turned to lead the way, he saw Rich attempt to pull the jacket tighter around himself, but his hands were too shaky and his fingers barely closed around the fabric.

Oh no.

Some mother hen instinct Jeremy didn’t know he had woke up within him. He turned back to Rich and sidled up next to him, draping an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close.

“I don’t need help,” Rich croaked out in a strained voice, before once again coughing into his arm hoarsely.

Jeremy didn’t respond, just began to guide Rich down the sidewalk at a brisk pace. The cold seeping in through his shirt was nearly unbearable, but he put up with it for Rich. It did make him wonder how Rich had managed to live with it, especially with so little cover. How long had he been out?

The walk was pretty silent and quick, save for Rich’s coughing attacks. But soon, as the sun touched the horizon, they came to Jeremy’s house. Rich wiped his feet as Jeremy shoved the door open, which was a little stuck from the cold. He led Rich inside and flicked the lights on. The lights being off and the lack of the tv playing in the living room was a sure sign that his dad wasn’t home yet.

“Um, make yourself at home. We can go to my room if you want.” Jeremy offered. He didn’t usually have guests over, except for Michael, and Michael didn’t care about formalities or how the house looked. Which was bad because a), Jeremy was out of practice on host manners, and b) his room was a mess. Oh well.

Rich nodded, looking around the house wide eyed. He followed Jeremy through the dark hallway to his room.

Jeremy turned on the lights and guestured Rich in. “It’s really messy, I’m sorry.”

Rich laughed, “It’s probably not worse than mine.” He stepped in the room and Jeremy closed the door behind him, locking it for good measure. He considered how creepy that was, trapping Rich in the room essentially, but didn’t bother to unlock it.

He flushed, a little embarrassed as Rich surveyed his surroundings. He regret the nerdy posters on the wall and laundry strewn across the floor.

Rich didn’t seem to care that much. After a moment, he awkwardly looked back towards Jeremy, still holding the jacket around himself.

“Uh, cool room.” He said, smiling a little.

“Sorry, it’s stupid.” Jeremy shrugged sheepishly.

“Not really. I think it’s cool.”

Jeremy smiled at him, not completely believing it, but Rich sounded genuine.

The silence grew and Rich just stood there, looking around awkwardly, as if afraid the Kool Aid man would burst through the wall at any moment. Or maybe that was just Jeremy projecting childhood fears.

Jeremy snapped into action anyways, moving to Rich and holding a hand out. “I can take that.”

For a moment, Rich hesitated, his (weak) grip tightening on the coat. But it passed, and he slid the coat off and handed it to Jeremy.

Still self conscious about his room, Jeremy looked around for a place to put the coat rather than just throwing it on the floor. He wound up tossing it on his desk chair and calling that clean.

Rich was still standing in the middle of the room.

Jeremy nodded towards his bed. “You can sit down.”

“Okay,” Rich said, making no movement to sit down at all.

Jeremy held back a groan of frustration, but understood. He always felt awkward when he went over to someone else’s house too.

He rephrased, “You _should_ sit down.”

Rich chuckled a little, but again made no movement. Jeremy sighed, and, like he was guiding a toddler, grabbed Rich by the wrist and led him towards his bed. Rich’s frigid fingers brushed against Jeremy’s arm, tickling both the skin there and the pit of Jeremy’s stomach. They awkwardly crawled on the bed, and Jeremy urged him to sit with his back to the headboard, where there were a few pillows to cushion him.

Jeremy was still holding onto Rich’s wrist. The skin was dry and _so_ cold. Concern once again outweighed Jeremy’s embarrassment. Right. Save the dying teenager.

“Okay, uh…” Jeremy looked around. Blanket. Literally any blanket, please.

He looked behind him, towards the floor at the foot of the bed. Bingo. He reached down and grabbed the Legend of Zelda blanket he’d gotten years ago. It was a deep green with a huge triforce in the middle and pretty damn soft. He held it out to Rich.

“Here. Your… um… your skin feels cold.”

Rich laughed a little bitterly and snatched it away from him the way a dog nearly bites its owner’s hand off to get a treat.

Jeremy bit his lip, realizing that a single blanket probably wasn’t enough. He looked around for something else before his eyes fell down to his own bed.

Rich watched intently as Jeremy stood up.

“You can honestly have the whole comforter if you want it.” Jeremy said, scratching the back of his neck, “You look like you could use it…”

Not wasting another second, Rich gathered the blanket up and wrapped it around himself, struggling as he coughed and hacked so hard that it racked his body. He secured it tightly around himself, snuggling into it with a shiver.

Once Rich was in a burrito of warmth, Jeremy sat back down, cross legged in front of him. Rich seemed especially small like this, getting swallowed in all the blankets. Despite it all, his eyes were still wide and he looked prone to startle. It was so unusual to see him in such a state. Jeremy felt like he was looking down at a kicked dog.

Which… here came the hard part. The conversation.

Jeremy steeled himself, and spoke up. “So… um, how long were you out?”

Rich looked away, sinking further into his blankets of safety.

Finally he murmured, “... Since last night.”

Jeremy blinked in surprise. “What?”

“I dunno. Maybe 9:00?”

“Yesterday!?”

“... Yeah."

“Jesus Christ, Rich.” Jeremy swallowed. It seemed unrealistic, but after denying it before, Jeremy didn’t have a reason to doubt him. Rich’s downcast eyes, full of guilt, were pretty believable. He asked, “Where did you sleep? How did you not freeze to death?”

It took Rich a moment to muster up the courage and confess. “I didn’t sleep. ‘Cause I was… scared. That if I slept…” He trailed off, “I just kinda… walked.”

Jeremy scoffed, hiding his concern. “And you’re not dead _how?_ ”

Rich frowned. His nose scrunched up and he looked down towards the mattress. “I don’t know. I’m really cold. I didn’t know it was possible to feel this cold.”

He looked up again, staring straight into Jeremy’s eyes.

“I can’t feel my hands,” he said.

Jeremy didn’t know what to say other than, “What?”

“I can’t-” Rich’s breath caught. He was choked up, Jeremy realized, as his eyes flicked around Jeremy’s face, wide with a pure terror Jeremy hadn’t thought he would be capable of. “I can’t feel my hands,” he finished.

“Okay,” Jeremy squeaked out after a moment, “That’s definitely not good.”

Rich’s eyes were unfocused and his nose scrunched harder as he blinked back tears, his breaths coming out short and panicked.

Jeremy looked around for a solution. How could one fix numb hands? Another blanket wouldn’t fix it.

The reasonable part of his brain said, “Take him to the god damn doctor.” The chaotic part said, “Blow on his hands.”

He listened to the chaotic part. He didn’t have a car to take anyways.

Reaching under the blanket, he fished out Rich’s hands and brought them to his mouth. A part of him wondered if this is how lifeguards felt before performing mouth-to-mouth; aware you were going to do something gay but being too panicked to worry about all the “no homo’s.” Jeremy’s bisexuality cocked it’s eyebrow at him in question. He shoved the thought away and began to blow warm air on Rich’s hands, the way he did when he was outside and didn’t have gloves on him.

It was all going good, until he made the mistake of raising his eyes up to meet Rich’s.

Rich was staring him down with huge eyes, mouth a little open. His face was red, though that was probably from the cold. Probably. He seemed bewildered and… intrigued.

Jeremy ignored the tilty, weird feeling brewing in his stomach and tore his eyes away. He didn’t stop his work. He added his hands in too, gently rubbing the dry skin.

He kept blowing and rubbing, unfortunately acutely aware of the euphemism. Soon enough the skin felt warm-ish to the touch. Jeremy figured it still felt freezing on Rich’s end, but it was about as much as Jeremy could do.

He let Rich’s hands drop and waited for the impending sex joke from the boy in front of him. But it never came. Instead, Rich just swallowed and croaked out a, “Thank you,” before coughing into his blanket shell for a good fifteen seconds.

Cold hands fixed (not really but kinda). Next thing to fix, the cough. Jeremy didn’t have any tea in the house, unfortunately, but they did have coffee. But maybe caffeine wouldn’t be good, he thought. Rich was probably exhausted. Had Rich had water since he left the house? What if he was super dehydrated? Was he hungry?

“Are you okay?” Rich piped up, “You’re sweating a little.”

“Fine!” Jeremy blurted out a little too quickly. “Are you fine? I-” he pinched the bridge of his nose, “are you thirsty?”

Rich grimaced. “...You can just stop.”

Jeremy cocked an eyebrow at Rich’s flat tone.

“I don’t need your pity and I don’t want your help.”

Jeremy looked down doubtfully at Rich’s blanket covered form. He wanted to be frustrated with Rich’s reluctance to just let him _help, damn it,_ but, again, it was hard to be mad at a kicked puppy.

“You may not _want_ my help, but you really do need it.”

Rich frowned harder, probably because he knew Jeremy was right.

“Have you eaten anything? Or had any water?” Jeremy pressed on.

Rich stayed silent, confirming the theory. He looked away and made a noncommittal grunt.

“Okay,” Jeremy sighed, “I’m gonna get you water, and… something. To eat. I’ll be back, okay?”

“You’re coming back, right?” Rich startled back to attention, voice raising in alarm. Jeremy frowned. Had he not heard what Jeremy said?

“Yeah, I am.”

“Oh. Good.” Rich nodded, and then resumed with staring off into space.

Jeremy took that as his cue to leave. He got off the bed, went out of his room, and rushed to the kitchen.

He found a bottle of water pretty quickly, and after a few minutes of rummaging he found a can of soup that’s wasn’t expired, for once. As he heated it up, he worried at the sleeves of his sweater, wondering what would have happened to get Rich in such a situation. And with a black eye, no less. Had he gotten in a fight?

And, hell, yesterday had been Christmas. Why was Rich out on the streets and not celebrating with his family?

He remembered when the microwave beeped.

_“Things are kinda rough at home, if you know what I’m sayin’…”_

_“… He usually passes out by nine, you should come over…”_

Oh. Uh oh.

Jeremy balanced the bowl of soup in the crook of his elbow and walked back to his room. His feet dragged the whole way.

Maybe it wasn’t that. Maybe it was something entirely different.

His gut turned just like the doorknob to his bedroom.

“Okay,” he called as he went inside, steeling himself, “I don’t really have a lot that isn’t like, two years old, but I found-“

Rich was crying.

It took a second to realize so. Rich nearly jumped three feet in the air when Jeremy entered before quickly digging his arm into his eyes to wipe away the traces of sadness. But he’d definitely been crying.

Jeremy found himself in a bit of a trance, there in the middle of his own room with his used-to-be-bully curled up in his bed in front of him. A soup bowl in his arm. A water bottle in his fist.

The emotions were swirling and Jeremy was almost… confused.

Of course, there was the dread and concern over Rich’s health and situation. A feeling that made his skin itch, bubbling underneath all of the other mess he was experiencing. A big part of it was the same, strange, tilty feeling in his stomach from before. Him and Rich being alone in the house during such a personal thing almost made him flustered. The dog imagery kept popping up in his head, looking at Rich so helpless in front of him. There was a sudden, almost maternal need to make his friend feel better, and he was tempted to drop everything and just wrap Rich in a hug.

But then there was the tiniest part of Jeremy that felt triumphant. Something that felt a sick satisfaction in seeing his tormentor hurt so much. The pride of being the stronger of the two for once. But this part of Jeremy was much more outweighed by the other two feelings, thankfully. Jeremy still felt guilty about it nonetheless, and tried to kill the victorious thought.

Whatever. Jeremy shook himself, honing in on the concerned part and re-focusing himself. Rich was in pain. He needed to stop spacing out.

He moved back to the bed. “Uh, here,” he said, setting the bowl down on his bedside table and shimmying back onto the bed.

He handed the water bottle to Rich, who immediately dropped it due to his shaky hands. Given, they weren’t shaking quite as bad anymore, at least.

Rich picked it up and attempted to unscrew the cap of it. And attempted again. And again. But he couldn’t quite get his fingers around the tiny, flimsy plastic. Could hardly find the strength to twist it open.

Rich tried to twist it open once more, and accidentally dropped it onto the bed again. He stared at it blankly for a second.

A second.

And then he crashed.

A sob cracked out of Rich and fat tears rolled down his cheeks, staring down at the unopened bottle, completely defeated.

Jeremy was tugging Rich forwards into a hug before he could even process what was happening. Rich reciprocated immediately, squeezing his skinny frame and balling his sweater in his fists.

It was just like that for several minutes. Rich sobbing into Jeremy’s shoulder while Jeremy held him- not completely un-awkwardly- and let him cry it out. Jeremy’s heart twinged as he gently rubbed a hand up and down his back.

Rich’s whimpers were high pitched and cracky, and god, he really was just a puppy, wasn’t he?

Jeremy tightened his grip on Rich and thought of something to say.

“It’s okay…” redundant and done before, but sure. That’d work. “I’ve got you, you’re okay.”

It seemed to encourage Rich, apparently, who shifted so he was practically sitting in Jeremy’s lap and turned his face so his running nose was buried in Jeremy’s neck. It would have grossed Jeremy out if his heart didn’t feel so soft.

Eventually Rich calmed down to a point where he was simply slumped against Jeremy, occasionally letting out a sniffle or two. He laughed bitterly into Jeremy’s shoulder.

“God, I’m fucking pathetic.”

“That’s not true.”

“I can’t even open a bottle and now I’m just… crying. In your bed. And you have to take care of me.”

“I don’t mind taking care of you. I’m worried. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

Rich scoffed. “Why do you care?”

“Because… you’re my friend.”

Rich made a choked noise and pushed Jeremy off. “Wow. So it is out of pity after all.”

“What!?” Jeremy squawked, “No! I really do care about you Rich.”

“Why?”

“Because!”

“That’s not an answer. Why!?”

“Wh- I don’t _know_!“

And that seemed to end the conversation.

Stress built in Jeremy’s chest, the argument only heightening the emotions. A tense silence filled the air as he snatched up the bottle of water, effortlessly cracking it open. Rich’s eyes narrowed at pop of the plastic.

Jeremy held it out to him. Rich made no move to take it, just stared at it in loathing.

Frustrated, Jeremy snapped out, “Can you please just cooperate?”

For a split second, Rich seemed caught a little off guard by the tiny outburst. It was gone as soon as it came, though.

Jeremy took a deep breath and tried again. More gentle this time, “Please can you drink some of this?”

Rich stared at it for another moment before taking it from him with a sigh. “You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Jeremy blinked, his cheeks heating up. “What?”

Rich shot him a tired, matter-of-fact look before raising the bottle to his lips and downing the entire bottle in one go.

Jeremy must’ve misheard. He knew he hadn’t, but he tried to convince himself he had. Rich teased him like that all the time, but that was a little too real.

“…Feel better?” Jeremy asked, setting the comment aside as Rich set the bottle down on the bedside table.

Rich shrugged. “A little. Warming up kinda hurts.”

Jeremy knew that feeling. He smiled sympathetically. “Yeah.”

Rich readjusted the blankets around himself and sucked in a breath to talk. He paused, thinking, eyes half lidded. Jeremy waited for him to talk.

After a minute of pondering, Rich swallowed and said, “Um… last night, my dad. He was really drunk, and um…” his voice went quiet, “he kicked me out, I guess. I didn’t leave fast enough, um, I thought he wasn’t serious…” He sniffed. “And that’s when…” he pointed to his black eye, “Yeah… so then I… I left…”

A couple more tears escaped from him. He laughed bitterly. “So, yeah. There.”

Jeremy felt awful. What a shitty Christmas. He’d figured that something like that had happened, of course, but it didn’t make it any easier to hear.

“I’m so sorry.” Jeremy said. He didn’t know what else to say, other than sorry. How was he supposed to respond to that?

“It’s fine. I’m used to it.”

“Yeah, but has he ever kicked you out?” Jeremy asked, anger at the injustice of the situation leaking into his tone.

“Well… no.” Rich admitted quietly.

“You don’t deserve that.”

Rich didn’t respond.

“So… where are you going to stay? Can you even go back?”

Rich thought about it. “I mean… he was drunk. He’s probably already forgotten. I could probably go back, but, if he realizes I was gone…” his eyes unfocused, a little fearful.

“Then where are you going?” Jeremy pressed gently. He gently rested his hand on where he assumed Rich’s arm was underneath the blanket lump.

“I-“ Rich brushed a couple tears away, “I mean I have to go back eventually… I can’t run forever, right? The longer I’m away, the worse it’s gonna be when…” Rich trailed off for a moment, his voice wavering as a couple more tears fell, “when I go back.”

“Then don’t go back,” Jeremy stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Wh- I can’t just… _not_ go back! Besides, where would I go?”

Honestly, Jeremy hadn’t even told his dad that Rich was over, so it was probably a stretch for him to say what he did. But he just had such a strong desire to help Rich, and make him feel better. Make him feel safe. He didn’t entirely know why, but he just wanted Rich away from his dad and somewhere he would be okay.

So he said, “You can stay with me.”

Rich visibly leaned back in surprise. “What? No-“

“As long as you want.”

“Jeremy, I really can’t.”

“Why not?”

Jeremy’s dad was understanding. He’d be cool with it, Jeremy was sure.

“Buh-“ Rich stammered, “Because! I can’t just like… intrude.”

Jeremy’s stomach did the little tilty thing.

_Intrude? are you kidding?_

“I wouldn’t mind having you here at all,” Jeremy said honestly. Because, if anything, he _wanted_ Rich there. Right where he could see he was safe and okay.

Rich gulped, eyes flickering between Jeremy’s gaze and something past him. “I- really?” His voice was small and hopeful. Jeremy’s heart lurched.

Somehow his hand moved so it was gently cupping Rich’s cheek. Jeremy didn’t question how it got there.

“Yeah,” he smiled, leaning forwards, “really.”

Rich went wide eyed, but he didn’t pull away. Just squeaked out, “I- you’re really nice, but I can’t-“

“Yeah you can,” still leaning closer.

“I can’t-“ Rich squeaked, breaths coming out short and brushing against Jeremy’s face. And wow- they really were that close weren’t they?

“Yeah you can.”

Rich shook his head a little.”I can’t-“

“Please,” Jeremy whispered, “stay.”

Rich made a little, strangled, desperate noise. He stared into Jeremy’s eyes, lost in a momentary trance before he could recall his mantra again. “I c-“

Hard to finish an objection when someone’s mouth is on yours’.

Rich paused before leaning into the kiss. It was gentle and cautious. Jeremy had only ever kissed Brooke and Christine before, so while he wasn’t the most experienced, he at least knew what he was doing. But he didn’t press. He kept it soft. He didn’t want to hurt Rich.

The room was quiet, and it was nice. Just them connected at the lip. The tilty feeling- butterflies, Jeremy now realized- intensified as he let himself get lost in the sensation.

It felt like a decent trade off- having to break away and losing the contact, but getting to look at Rich’s eyes again.

For a moment they just breathed. Jeremy remembered that he was supposed to be persuading Rich.

He whispered again, “Stay?”

Completely fucked over and eyes blown a little wide, Rich nodded dumbly. “Yeah. Okay.”

Jeremy smiled. “Good, thank you.”

And that was that.

They both soaked in what had just happened, lost in their own thoughts. Jeremy’s being, _“why can't I be that confident all the time!? Also, what the fuck just happened? Do I like him? I mean, yeah, of course I do. Oh my god I like him.”_

“Soooo…” Rich laughed in a way that sounded like how awkward finger guns looked, “we should probably talk about that.”

“Yeeeeaaah…” Jeremy returned the vocal finger guns.

“But, I’m honestly too tired for that and I just want to sleep.”

“Hard same.”

“Oh great.” Rich relaxed. “Can we do that? I legit didn’t sleep last night. I’m so tired I’m surprised I haven’t passed out yet.”

“Yeah. But when you wake up you’re eating first.” Jeremy pointed at the, now cold, soup, “ _Then_ we talk about feelings and talk to my dad about you living here.”

“Good plan.”

Jeremy quickly hopped away to turn the lights off and shoot a text to his dad synopsizing that a friend was sleeping over unexpectedly and that he’d explain in the morning.

He crawled back into bed, situating himself next to Rich.

“Um, is it okay if I- if we…” Jeremy trailed off, his arm hovering around Rich's shoulder, but not quite touching yet. Rich was already unwrapping the comforter from around himself and tossing it over the mattress so it was somewhat back to normal.

Rather than answering vocally, he pulled Jeremy down under the covers and pressed close to him. He threw an arm around his waist and rested his head on Jeremy’s chest, right over his heart. Jeremy wondered if he could hear it melting.

“Thank you Jeremy,” Rich mumbled sleepily, snuggling into him.

Jeremy hummed back, re-adjusting so he was more comfortable in his position and hooking one of his legs between Rich’s.

Jeremy, not quite as exhausted as the boy who hadn’t slept last night, stayed awake a bit longer. He listened as Rich’s breathing evened out and saw his face slacken in the dim light coming through his window. He was finally at peace, it seemed.

_“He’s safe,”_ he reassured himself as he stroked Rich’s hair and he, too, fell asleep.

The situations were unfortunate, sure, but it was a pretty damn good late Christmas present.

**Author's Note:**

> Oh fuck is this what spicy bis' hell feels like? I've been meaning to write it for a while but never got around to it but now I'm here and oh shit this is pretty sweet and I already have an idea for another fic oh shit man


End file.
